Lubomir Galko is no longer defence minister after Prime Minister Iveta Radicova proposed President Ivan Gasparovic to recall him over the suspect monitoring of journalists that surfaced at the beginning of this week.
PM Radicova deemed it the best solution, even though she referred to Galko as a fighter who battled against disadvantageous tenders and order, for instance. She also said she was personally sorry to see him ousted from his post over the phone tapping affair, but that the military intelligence service had failed and that was under his jurisdiction.
The case involved tapping the phones and gathering information on at least four journalists, but at present there are said to be around 60 people being tapped and monitored.
Radicova said wiretapping journalists was completely unjustified and against the basic principles of a state of law and democracy. She also pointed to how the publication of confidential information was also illegal, as anyone coming into contact with it is obliged to hand it over to the authorities. This aspect of the case will therefore be inspected by the National Security Authority (NBU).